Sophocles Antigone

Introduction and Approaches to Interpretation Western Drama/Spring 2011
Greek cosmology is hierarchical, conservative, ethnocentric and ordered a pre-Christian worldview: no heaven but an afterlife in the realm of shadows (Hades); the shades of our selves retain all aspects of character in afterlife except the physical 5th century Athens (BCE) was enlightened, with stable governance, ruling institutions, scientific advancement and an empire. It was also a slave state.

Renaissance image http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/history /carnegie/aristotle/chainofbeing.html
Aristotle also gave us the great chain of being concept ranking of cosmos strictly hierarchical balancing being and non-being, natural with human systems god(s) as prime mover practically conservative
Note: no notion of humanism or individualism
Elsewhere in the Poetics, Aristotle requires that in order to be effective all drama must possess the three unities: (1) unity of time: all events occur in one day (single revolution of the sun) (2) unity of action (completeness): limited subplots/main narrative thread (e.g. Antigone v. Kreon) and resolution/closure (structural whole) (3) unity of place: stage should not compress geographical spaces
*as subsequently interpreted in Renaissance
According to Aristotle, tragedy must possess:

magnitude: all-encompassing scope and seriousness (god & man) completeness of action (three unities) linguistic adornment (rhetorically distinct from everyday events/language) imitation (mimesis) of noble traits and virtues: arousing pity and terror in audience (provokes catharsis)
given Aristotles belief in hierarchy it is logical that he ranks comedy lower than tragedy the genre that presents the unnatural in the absence of pain or suffering
note: by definition, comedy cannot trigger catharsis)
he defines the genre comedy negatively as:

an imitation error or ugliness of inferior, baser or deformed men and women; and which causes no harmful or painful effects.
four siblings, a cursed father/half-brother (Oedipus), a tyrannical uncle (Kreon)

OEDIPUS = JOCASTA# KREON# = EURIDYCE
ETEOCLES* POLYNEICES* ISMENE ANTIGONE<--->HAEMON#

*feuding brothers kill each other in battle prior to beginning of play (in media res) #Kreon and Jocasta are brother and sister, making Kreon Antigones uncle and Haemon Antigones first cousin
What does x equal? background: recounts events triggering tragedy (e.g. deaths of Eteokles/Polyneices) commentary: witness describing folly of man/woman and moral/ethical issues raised by the play didactic function: to lecture and instruct the audience; to make the implications of events clear
Question: Is Sophocles chorus always reliable?
1) 2)
3)
Example 1: KREON: Think of yourselves, therefore, as the guardian of my pronouncements. . . . KORYPHAIOS: Then what are your orders? KREON: Not to side with rebels. KORYPHAIOS: No one is such a fool. No one loves death. (253-259)
Example 2: CHORUS: I can see the ancient griefs of dead men striking this house, ripped by some god, no relief, generation after Generation, no release. (729-732) Example 3: CHIORUS: You were harsh and daring, child. You went too far and fell broken against the lofty Pedestal of Justice. (1003-1005)
Tragedy is produced not by a conflict between right and wrong, but between competing versions of the truth. Can you think of some examples?
Antigone and Kreon: I didnt suppose your decree had strength enough, or you, who are human, to violate the lawful traditions the gods have not written merely, but made infallible (555-558)
Antigone and Ismene: I do not want love from anyone who loves with speeches (665-666)
Kreon and Haimon: Dont father me. Youre no man. Youre a slave. Property of a woman. (914-15)
Competing sovereignties: kings law versus divine law (meets magnitude requirement) Love (eros) vs. Obedience (ares). Note the strong debate between Kreon and Haimon. Which is better: to be loved or feared by your people? Hubris (pride as fatal flaw). Both Antigone and Kreon possess it: with whom are you more sympathetic? Role of Chorus. Disinterested spectator or selfish subjects?
Sophocles Antigone is one of the oldest plays in the Western tradition and presents key elements of Greek tragedy as Aristotle defines it Characters flaws (hubris) emerge as a consequence of dramatic narrative/events it presents in a dramatic narrative the problem of competing values and sovereignties which entraps its characters producing terror and pity (catharsis)

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Introduction and Approaches to Interpretation Western Drama/Spring 2011

Note: no notion of humanism or individualism

According to Aristotle, tragedy must possess:

note: by definition, comedy cannot trigger catharsis)

he defines the genre comedy negatively as:

four siblings, a cursed father/half-brother (Oedipus), a tyrannical uncle (Kreon)

ETEOCLES* POLYNEICES* ISMENE ANTIGONE<--->HAEMON#

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